[Page 71]

[Page 72]

And then I would like to offer Document 1452-PS. This is a report of a conference of the chiefs with the Chief of the Department of the Economic Armament Office, and I would just like to read a short excerpt from it. It is Document 1452- PS, dated 24th March, 1942. It says:

"Conference of the Chiefs with the Chief of the Department. Report of the Chief of the Department on the conference on 23rd March with Milch, Wetzell, Leeb, in Minister Speer's office. The Fuehrer looks upon Speer as his principal mouthpiece, his trusted adviser in all economic spheres. Speer is the only one who today can say anything. He can interfere in any department. He already disregards all other departments."

Now, we also have here some photographs, Mr. President, and these are offered with respect to the defendant Kaltenbrunner. They were turned over to us by our colleagues of the French prosecution. And the first one is F 894, which becomes Exhibit USA 904. That is a picture showing Himmler congratulating someone, Kaltenbrunner immediately to his rear.

THE PRESIDENT: How are they identified?

MR. DODD: I will submit it - well, these are all captured documents, of course, but - you mean in the picture, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I mean by capture or any other way, where do they come from?

MR. DODD: Well, I assume them to be all captured documents. Oh, I see now - there are affidavits attached to each one which explain their source. This first one is of a man by the name of Francois Boix, who says that he is a photographer and was interned at Mauthausen, and so on, and he attests that this photograph was taken, and so forth. I think that is sufficient - I assume it is - to identify the picture. I believe that each one of them has a similar statement.

Now the next one is F 896, which becomes Exhibit USA 905. And this as well on the back of the original bears an affidavit by Francois Boix.

The next one is F 897, which becomes Exhibit USA 906. This, as well, bears the affidavit of Francois Boix and shows Kaltenbrunner and Himmler and other SS officials.

And then lastly, Document F 895, which becomes Exhibit USA 907, and this picture we particularly call to the Tribunal's attention. It, as well, bears the certificate of Francois Boix. Kaltenbrunner is there in the second row, Himmler and Hitler in the immediate centre between Kaltenbrunner and, apparently, Martin Bormann, taken at a concentration camp, which appears from the picture of the inmates on the left side.

Then we wish to offer a very short affidavit, which is Document 4033-PS and we offer it as Exhibit USA 908. It is the deposition of Oswald Pohl, P-o-h-l, dated 28th May, 1946. The affidavit - the substance of the affidavit reads as follows:

"I can say with absolute certainty that on the occasion of a duty call at Mauthausen I saw and spoke to SS Obergruppenfuehrer Kaltenbrunner - "

[Page 73]

" ... I saw and spoke to SS Obergruppenfuehrer Kaltenbrunner, there at the officers' mess on the right- hand side of the camp entrance either in the autumn of 1943 or the spring of 1944. I took lunch with him there at the mess table."

That is all we have to offer, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Do the other members of the prosecution wish to offer any other evidence?

Then now we can pass to the evidence to be called on behalf of Bormann. Dr. Bergold, will you call the witness you wish to call; Kempka.

DR. BERGOLD (counsel for the defendant Bormann): Gentlemen of the Tribunal, I shall call the witness Kempka.

ERICH KEMPKA, a witness, took the stand and testified as follows:

BY THE PRESIDENT:

Q. Will you state your full name, please.

A. My name is Erich Kempka.

Q. Will you repeat this oath after me:

I swear by God, the Almighty and Omniscient, that I will speak the pure truth and will withhold and add nothing.

(The witness repeated the oath.)

THE PRESIDENT: You may sit down.

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY DR. BERGOLD:

Q. Witness, in what capacity were you employed near Hitler during the war?

A. During the war I worked for Adolf Hitler as his personal driver.

Q. Did you meet Martin Bormann in that capacity?

A. Yes, I met Martin - Reichsleiter Martin Bormann in that capacity at that time.

Q. Witness, on what day did you see the defendant Martin Bormann for the last time?

A. I saw the Reichsleiter, the former Reichsleiter Martin Bormann on the night of 1st and 2nd May, 1945, near the Friedrichstrasse railway station at the Weidendamm Bridge. Reichsleiter Bormann - former Reichsleiter Bormann asked me what the general situation was near the Feiedrichstrasse Station, and I told him that at the station it was hardly possible -

THE PRESIDENT (interposing): You are going too fast. He asked you what?

THE WITNESS: He asked me what the situation was and whether one could get through at the Friedrichstrasse Station. I told him that was practically impossible, since the defensive fighting there was too heavy. Then he went on to ask whether it might be possible to do so with armoured vehicles. I told him that that could only be proved by trying to do so.

Then, a few tanks and SPW cars came along, and small groups began to cling to them. Then the armoured vehicles pushed their way through the anti-tank trap and afterwards the leading tank, beside which Martin Bormann was walking along about at the middle of the tank on the left-hand side, suddenly received a direct hit, I imagine from a bazooka fired from a window, and was blown up. A flash of fire suddenly shot up on the very side where Bormann was walking, and I saw -

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THE WITNESS: Yes, at the middle of the tank, on the left- hand side, Martin -

Then, after it had got forty to fifty metres through the anti-tank trap, this tank received a direct hit, I imagine from a bazooka fired from a window. The tank was blown to pieces right there where Martin - Reichsleiter Bormann was walking.

I myself was flung to one side by the explosion and by having a person thrown against me who had been walking ahead - I think it was Standartenfuehrer Dr. Stumpfecker - and I became unconscious. When I came to myself, for a time I could not see anything; I was blinded by the flash. Then I crawled back again to the tank trap, and since then I have not seen Martin Bormann.

BY DR. BERGOLD:

Q. Witness, did you see Martin Bormann collapse in the flash of fire when it occurred?

A. Yes, indeed, I still saw a movement which was a sort of collapsing. You might call it a flying away.

Q. Was this explosion so strong that according to your observation Martin Bormann must have been killed?

A. Yes, I assume for certain that the strength of the explosion was such that it killed him.

Q. How was Martin Bormann dressed at that time?

A. Martin Bormann was wearing a leather coat, an SS leader's cap, and the insignia of an SS Obergruppenfuehrer.

Q. Do you therefore believe that if he had been found wounded on that occasion he would have been immediately identified by these clothes as being one of the leading men of the movement?

A. Yes, indeed.

Q. You said that another man was walking either beside or ahead of Martin Bormann, namely a Herr Naumann of the Propaganda Ministry?

A. Yes, it was the former State Secretary, Dr. Naumann.

Q. Was he approximately at the, same distance from the explosion?

A. No, he was about one or two metres ahead of Martin Bormann.

Q. Have you seen anything of this State Secretary Naumann subsequently?

A. No, I have not seen him again either. The same applies to Standartenfuehrer Dr. Stumpfecker.

Q. At that time you crawled back, did you not?

A. Yes.

Q. Did not anyone follow you?

A. Yes. Always, when you passed behind that anti-tank trap, you would run into defensive fire, and a few would remain lying on the spot and the rest always went back, but those who were with that tank I have never seen again.

DR. BERGOLD: Gentlemen of the Tribunal, I have no further questions for this witness.

MR. DODD: I have no questions, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Do the defence counsel want to ask him any questions?

BY THE PRESIDENT:

Q. How many tanks were there in this column?

A. That I cannot say at the moment - possibly two or three. There may have been four, but there were more SPW cars, armoured personnel carriers.

Q. How many were there of them?

A. More and more came up, and then some of them drove away again. They tried to break through at that point. Possibly one or two tried. The others withdrew after the tank was blown up.

[Page 75]

A. That I would not know. They came quite suddenly - there they were. I assume that they were tanks which had withdrawn into the middle of the town and were also trying to break out in a southerly direction.

Q. When you say they were there suddenly, where do you mean they were? Where did they pick you up?

A. I was not picked up. I left the Reich Chancellery -

Q. Well, where did they join you? Where did you first see them?

A. At the Weidendamm Bridge, behind the Friedrichstrasse Station. They came up there during the night.

Q. Where was it that Bormann first asked you whether it would be possible to get through?

A. That was at the tank block behind the Friedrichstrasse Station at the Weidendamm Bridge.

Q. Do you mean that you met him in the street?

A. Yes. Martin Bormann was not present when we left the Reich Chancellery; he did not appear at the bridge until between 2 and 3 in the morning.

Q. You met him there just by chance, do you mean?

A. I only met him by chance, yes.

Q. Was there anybody with him?

A. State Secretary Dr. Naumann from the Ministry of Propaganda was with him, as well as Dr. Stumpfecker who had been the last doctor with the Fuehrer.

Q. How far were they from the Reich Chancellery?

A. From the Reich Chancellery to the Friedrichstrasse Station is approximately a quarter of an hour's walk under normal circumstances.

Q. And then you saw some tanks and some other armoured vehicles coming along, is that right?

A. Yes, yes, indeed.

Q. German tanks and German armoured vehicles?

A. Yes, German armoured vehicles.

Q. Did you have any conversation with the drivers of them?

A. No, I did not talk to the drivers. I think State Secretary - former State Secretary Dr. Naumann did.

Q. And then you did not get into the tanks or the armoured vehicles?

A. No, we. did not get in - neither State Secretary Dr. Naumann nor Reichsleiter Bormann.

Q. You just walked along?

A. I just walked along, yes.

Q. And where were you with reference to Bormann?

A. I was behind the tank, about - on the left-hand side behind the tank.

Q. How far from Bormann?

A. It was perhaps three or four metres.

Q. And then some missile struck the tank, is that right?

A. No, I believe the tank was hit by a bazooka fired from a window.

Q. And then you saw a flash and you became unconscious?

A. Yes, I suddenly saw a flash of fire and in the fraction of a second I also saw Reichsleiter Bormann and State Secretary Naumann both make a movement as if collapsing and flying away. I myself was thrown aside with them at that same moment and subsequently lost consciousness.

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